Baltic Hawker

Baltic Hawker (Aeshna serrata) is one of Europe´s least distributed Hawkers. It´s got a stronghold in the east of central Sweden. This female is the first for the year and the first I´ve seen in the county of Västmanland. Despite knowing it should breed here, it´s been difficult to find and identify. This individual was netted by David Andersson! Thank´s David!

Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell

The influx of Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis xanthomelas) reaching the east of Sweden the last week has been considerable. Today I went to Runmarö in the Stockholm archipelago to enjoy this one. (My first) A couple of Apollo´s and geranium Argus was a bonus.

One of last week´s highlights among Dragonflies was this Common Goldenring (Corduelegaster boltonii) - not so common.

The Avian adventures -group from last week enjoyed some really good butterflies and birds during a very dynamic week. 42 species of Butterflies included highlights like Poplar Admiral, Camberwell Beauty, Baltic Grayling, Scarce Copper, Purple-edged Copper, Scarce–, Marsh- and Assman´s Fritillary, Bog-, Cranberry-, High Brown-, Queen of Spain Fritillary, Large Blue, Amanda´s, Ida´s, Green-underside, Cranberry and Mazarine Blues, Geranium and Mountain Argus, Large and Pearly Heath to mention but a few. The very late season made us see several early species. Only one site was missed due to bad weather. Enjoy some pics! First 3 Assman´s Fritillary.

More and more amazing shots are being taken from our new, floating photo hide. The Black tern flock by Stefan Oscarsson or the White-tailed eagle and Little gull by Jan Pedersen. Or Daniel Pettersson´s portraits of Black Terns.

The dragonfly season has at least started a bit up here in the cold north. Yesterday I found Yellow-spotted Whiteface on a new site but didn´t get any good pics (just semi-blurr) of the only male I saw. However plenty of Black-tailed Skimmers and 4-spot Chasers. No Hawkers yet on this excellent Hawker site! I saw a Hairy Hawker take a Brilliant Emerald the other day on the same island though. Pictures above!

Sweden´s 2.nd Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris) caused a megatwitch at Hjälstaviken where it showed for a good part of the afternoon and evening. Hundreds of bird enthusiasts took the chance to see it.